Arthur’s Fight

Arthur charged at the goblins and then swung his saber at the first beast that was holding a knife. However, it was extremely fast; with its fighting instinct, the goblin jumped back swiftly.

Then, another goblin with a spear threw its weapon back at Arthur right at the very moment. It was the goblins’ fighting formation.

Despite being only level-one beasts, these monsters, goblins, were very clever. Group fighting was their forte.

While the goblin’s spear was coming in his direction, Arthur raised his sword to divert it just in time.

Clank!

The sound of weapons clashing blasted up fiercely. It was hard to believe that a 10-year-old boy was capable of handling a pack of beasts.

It seemed like the rumor about Arthur’s sword skill was not fabricated after all. He was truly talented.

Arthur showed no signs of retreating, fighting with these beasts. He did not ask anyone for help. Those brave soldiers that were sent to protect him had now become the bystanders just like Merlin.

Arthur flicked the sword back at the spear goblin’s face. Blood burst out; it collapsed.

“It’s dangerous out here. Go hide in my carriage.”

Said Arthur to the unfortunate girl. Although nervous, she listened to him. The girl ran in fear straight to the carriage where Merlin was sitting.

Merlin got down from the carriage and held the girl for it was his duty. Then he took her up to rest on the horse-drawn vehicle. But the girl looked a bit uneasy because she was still worried about the brave boy.

Merlin looked at her expression understandingly then stated,

“Don’t worry, he can handle them.”

Merlin said that to assure her. But it seemed he had overstepped.

The girl was clearly upset; although looking dissatisfied, she got on the carriage after all.

Merlin’s status at the time was just a servant. And from the way this girl dressed, her family must be rather wealthy. So, the main point here was that she felt disgusted having a conversation with a servant.

After Arthur had finished the spear-holding goblin, the other three retreated hastily, which was somehow a suspicious move.

But they wasted no time for Arthur to build his doubt. In a flash, a jet-black grenade was thrown at the boy. But with his fast reflexes, Arthur started casting a spell right away.

It was an earth-element spell.

After those words were uttered, there appeared in front of Arthur, a hazel-colored barrier with a translucent, snake-scale design and a turtle-like shape.

Boom!

The explosion was ear-splitting. The whole area was covered in dust and smoke. But Arthur did not linger for the dust to go away, he instantly cast another spell.

Zoooom!

Suddenly a brown aura shined out of Arthur’s body and the dust went away right at that moment.

As Arthur started moving again, both his power and speed were immensely improved. In the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of a goblin.

Swash!

Arthur’s sword completely went through its chest. But he was not done yet...

Chop! Chop!

The hands of the goblin on his side were quickly cut off. Swiping his blade, Arthur approached the beast and deftly slashed off its head.

He then turned to the last goblin standing but it had already run away to the other side.

Surely enough, Arthur would never let that monster go. The sword was set at the furthest length of his arm.

And then he threw it out with all his power.

Swoosh!

His sword pierced through the monster’s body; it collapsed.

Finally, Arthur had finished all the three goblins; so he walked to the last fallen creature and pulled his sword out of its body.

This was not the first time he had killed a beast. The boy took his handkerchief out and casually cleaned the enemies’ blood on the sword.

In Merlin’s eyes, this child had some skills. And the power called magic did amaze Merlin.

Magic could reinforce one’s fighting skills, to the point of exceeding human limits: immune to explosives, and an abrupt boost of attacking power and speed. These are the things no ordinary humans could do.

Even a boy like Arthur was such a wicked novice, he could never imagine what the ones with higher magical powers could do.

Right now Merlin was at the second level of Qi accumulation. From what he had observed, if he had to fight this little boy, possibly, Arthur would defeat him effortlessly.

Arthur undoubtedly deserved to be seen as the hope of the Aragon Kingdom.

This thing called magic had the ability to cheat human’s capabilities. Just casting a spell to summon it and you would then be able to borrow the powerful forces of nature.

Compared to the ascetic or martial arts practices, using magic was way easier.

With Arthur’s skills being a standard now, if Merlin was able to achieve level three of Qi accumulation, he would gain speed many times faster than where he was right now. Then he would be able to handle Arthur.

Merlin compared the two sciences.

But if he was to deal with a higher-level magic practitioner, he would probably lose. Therefore, in these three years, he had to achieve the stem-building stage. Then he would learn the science of magic to enhance his abilities.

If this was like the cultivation in his old days, there would be no reason for him to worry this much. Because in the past, there were herbs that helped boost Xian vital essence as well as occult instruments at hand.

Although he was only at level two of Qi accumulation, if there were occult instruments to use hand in hand with, novice wizards wouldn’t be his matches.

Now still clueless about the properties of the raw materials in this realm, he was unable to make occult instruments.

But he believed that there existed no herbs or anything capable of increasing Xian vital essence. For this realm was filled with magic.

Regarding occult instruments making now, he was still at too low of a stage to make them. And even if he was lucky enough to successfully make one, it would be worth as much as garbage since it was created by the power of someone who was barely at the Qi-accumulation stage.

To make a moderately usable tool, the maker had to be at the stem-building stage, and to make a good one, at least they had to be at the budding stages. But now he could not do any of that.

Having defeated the goblins, Arthur began doing something. He used his sword to slash the goblin’s chest then bent down to pull something out of its body.

That thing was “a cryptic soul.”

Cryptic souls were located at the beasts’ hearts; they were filled with magical powers.

Humans could pack these cryptic souls into their armors or draw the magical powers out of them to help increase their magical power cultivation.

However, the cryptic souls’ powers were classified into levels depending on each monster’s strength. The stronger the beast was, the more powerful the cryptic soul would be. That was why they were very valuable in this world.

Monsters were ranked into the ten levels according to their powers. Each level was coherent with human’s powers.

Level one: equivalent to Novice level

Level two: equivalent to Magic Practitioner level

Level three: equivalent to Sorcerer level

Level four: equivalent to Wizard Warrior level (low)

Level five: equivalent to Wizard Warrior level (high)

Level six: equivalent to Archwizard level (low)

Level seven: equivalent to Archwizard level (middle)

Level eight: equivalent to Archwizard level (high)

Level nine: equivalent to Supreme Wizard level

Level ten: equivalent to Magic Emperor level

The reason levels four to eight were split into minor levels was that it was so rare to find wizards who were able to practice and get to the high levels.

The higher-level beasts were rarer to be found. So they were also divided into minor levels.

And as for the ones at levels nine to ten, they were considered mythological beasts. In the past hundred years, people had rarely beheld them.

After storing the level-one goblins’ cryptic souls, Arthur walked back to the carriage to continue the expedition.

“Go on you dumbo!” Arthur ordered forcefully.

Hearing that, Merlin said nothing; he steered the horses and moved on quietly.

Inside, Arthur looked at the girl and said,

“Who are you? Why did the goblins hurt you?” The handsome boy asked the ill-fated girl.

The girl looked at him. Her eyes expressed vulnerability. Even though she had no idea who this guy before her was, with his appearance and manners, he had to be an elite.

“My name is Leonard Ameria. My father is a merchant from Pon, the nearby city. I was going to Waldecian Academy to participate in the entrance exam. And on the way, my carriage was attacked by a group of goblins. All my followers were killed; I barely survived it.”

Having said that, the girl wept, pitifully. While the carriage was moving past the spot of the goblin’s attack, Arthur opened the curtains and looked out to see dead bodies scattered on the ground.

“Don’t be sad. I am going to Waldecian Academy as well. If you don’t mind, you could come along with me.” Arthur consoled the girl while reaching his hands out to hold hers.

After he heard the conversation, Merlin could not help but look into the carriage, suddenly his eyes met Arthur’s. The boy stared at him spitefully.

Arthur moved his lips while making a serious face. So Merlin understood what he was trying to say.

-What are you looking at? Look away!-

Acknowledging the master’s order, Merlin turned back to do his job.

“Huh! This little brat has his way of flirting. Barely ten years old and he is already an expert. Wouldn’t he be building a harem in the future?” Merlin thought.